Sydney man lured before murder, trial told

A man was lured home before his death because his ex-wife wanted to "prove he was a dangerous man" who abused children and worked with demons, a Sydney court has heard.

Raquel Gaelle Hutchison, 40, and Paul Andrew Wilkinson, 39, have pleaded not guilty in the NSW Supreme Court to murdering the 41-year-old man, whose body was found dumped on a Wisemans Ferry road in October 2014.

Daniel Greentree, an alleged associate, is also on trial after he denied being an accessory after the fact to the murder, with the alternative charge being concealing a serious offence.

In her opening address, crown prosecutor Margaret Cunneen SC argued Hutchison had been in a "joint criminal enterprise" with her relatively new partner Wilkinson to "lure" her ex-husband to his St Marys home, in order to "at least inflict grievous bodily harm" upon him.

The court will hear evidence from a boy who saw Hutchison crouching in the doorway of the man's room, holding Exit Mould and a flip knife before she punched the victim down the stairs and sprayed him in the eyes, Ms Cunneen said on Monday.

The child allegedly heard Hutchison say "confess or I'll kill you" before the man replied "I won't confess" and screamed that his eyes were burning.

He later saw the man "very still" and "very quiet" in a car boot with a rope around his neck, Ms Cunneen said.

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Greentree allegedly picked up two children - including the boy - from Hutchison and drove them elsewhere for a "small amount of money" during the 41-year-old man's torturous death, the prosecutor said.

She said the victim's autopsy report indicated he had been "subjected to a severe, complex assault over a period of time" and his facial trauma could be explained by multiple punches and tape put over his mouth and nose.

Hutchison's barrister Belinda Rigg SC said there would be no dispute her client "did acts" causing the man's death but evidence would focus on "why she did what she did" and if she was substantially impaired by mental illness.

"She went there to collect evidence to have him charged with abusing ... children and to prove he was a dangerous man because he was an exorcist, demonologist and ghost hunter," Ms Rigg said.

The barrister said Hutchison also had a "longstanding perception" that her ex-husband had killed his first wife which "escalated very significantly" in the fortnight before his death.

Hutchison, sitting between her co-accused, sobbed as the alleged abuse was detailed by her lawyer in court.

Ms Rigg said her client told a psychiatrist she "didn't intend" on the man dying.

"I wanted him to go to jail and be labelled as a child abuser, I punched him in the nose a fair bit ... (but) he wasn't beaten any worse than I have received in my life," Hutchison is alleged to have told Dr Olav Nielssen.